Is this the last interest rate rise for now?
- Published
The signs are that the Bank of England is coming in to land on rate rises, and today's could be the last.
The pace of rises is slowing and inflation is now predicted to fall faster this year than expected, in part as a result of the government's help for energy bills.
The Bank repeated language that further rises would be required only "if there were evidence" of more inflationary pressures. Its discussions suggested that some of that pressure, for example from wage growth, was declining even after yesterday's shock inflation number.
The Bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, confirmed that he had seen private wage growth begin to "even off", which was "obviously a good sign in terms of inflationary pressure".
The next Bank meeting in May is now a key point, where new quarterly forecasts for the economy and inflation could underpin a pause in rate rises.
While the British economy is better than feared, with a predicted recession now anticipated to be swerved, there are concerns about the impact of global financial fragility. The UK remains resilient. Mr Bailey told broadcasters that "this is not a repeat of 2008". But that is another cloud weighing over the Bank's decisions, with some memories of the quickly-reversed rises made by the Bank, even after the credit crunch started in 2007.
There's a three-way balancing act going on right now between surprisingly strong double-digit UK inflation, stagnant growth and the fragility in the global banking system which, while not centred in the UK, could have knock-on impacts on the funding of banks.
Absent that new cloud however, there is some good news about the UK economy here.
The consumer seems more resilient to what was an extraordinary energy shock. Unemployment is not now expected to rise, further underpinning consumers. The economy may still be flat, but given the size of the energy shock, it could have been much worse.
May looks set to be the time for a pause, if some of these uncertainties don't intrude.
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